Daily Archives: 18/12/2012

I am just loving the Snorfs. This morning I got an email from Maarten from 3eyedbear, asking if he could link to my blog post about the 12 Snorfs of Christmas, and kindly giving me a PDF of his new Christmas Snorf as a thanks. It was sooooo cute I just had to do something with it. So I did.

First, I ironed a bit of fabric to some freezer paper so I could print on it. I think this was not the best choice of fabric as it frays more than I would like, but it was what I had on hand.

Now, there are some lines you won’t cut for this version that are marked for the PAPER version. I cut all the assembly slits, the hat and beard curves, and cut the hands free. I did NOT cut the nose or the ears. I did score and crease the brow area but NOT the nose. Can you see that in the photo? I also cut the lower edge with a 1/4 inch allowance. More or less. Experience seamstresses, look away now LOL!Like so:

I ran out of Fray Check so I just brushed a bit of Glossy Accents on the mittens, That was the only part that I felt needed the fraying controlled.

This is a little tricky. Because of the fraying issue I didn’t want to peel the whole thing off the freezer paper so I just peeled the 1/4 inch extra away and trimmed the paper back to the original black line. Leaving the paper in place kept the Snorf shape.

I glued all the tabs, leaving the freezer paper in place. The beard curve and the hands HAVE to be cut in order to glue the tabs. I leave the hat loose at this point.

I cut a circle of felt – mine was actually too small at 2.5 inches in diameter – I thought it was ok till I stitched back to the beginning. I thought 3 inches looked to big but now I am thinking it would have been perfect. I folded the 1/4 inch allowance under and did a quick whip-stitch to close the bottom. I ended up pleating the back slightly to accommodate the excess.

Now, stuff the body with fibrefill loosely. The beard and hands are free so you don’t want the fibrefill oozing out!

I added a bit of trim around the hat edge and the base, to control any fraying and to disguise the whip-stitching.

Loop some baker’s twine, or ribbon and push it thru the hat, making a hanger.

Lightly stuff the hat with fibrefill and the glue the back of the hat to the back of the Snorf.

I wrapped a bit more of the trim around the top of the hat, over the hanger to finish him off. Isn’t he just the cutest thing?

I am still dithering whether or not to glue down the mittens. There really isn’t much fibrefill peeping out – I might have added a circle of felt to the inside, just to contain it, had I thought of it before I stuffed and glued the hat.

Now, obviously this is going to depend on your printer. An alternative might be to print the Snorf on to tee-shirt transfer paper then iron it on to other fabric. That also might let you make a softer version without the freezer paper, but the paper adds some stiffness to the hat and beard so I’m not sure it would have the shape it has if you don’t have the paper layer.

The Xmas Snorf is not available for download as I write this. Who knows if it will be available in the future? BUT the other Snorfs are equally cute and there are a few of them that I think would be Christmas-y enough if you fancy giving this a go.